Israel Prepares For President’s Conference Facing Tomorrow

By Robin Rotfleisch
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem ----- May 12, 2008 ....... Over one hundred and twenty leaders, policy-planners and prominent thinkers of the Jewish People will meet and engage in a series of deep discussions centering on major challenges for the future of the State of Israel, the Jewish People and the whole of humanity. This advance day of working groups will set the stage for Shimon Peres Israel 60th birthday landmark event Presidential Conference Facing Tomorrow.

Facing Tomorrow was organized by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute.

"The main threat is in the transformation of the Israel - Arab conflict from a national conflict to a religious conflict and the physical danger such a threat poses," says Arik Puder, a spokesperson for Facing Tomorrow.

"The good news is that the Jewish people have assets unprecedented in history: the great strength resulting from the inception and development of the State of Israel and the soft power resulting from Jewish intellectual capabilities and contributions to the family of man, along with the substantial financial resources of world Jewry. The main challenge is that the Jewish people and the State of Israel must prepare and cultivate responsible, moral and inspired leaders for tomorrow, to meet the challenges of the 21st century."

 

The transfer of non-conventional weapons from sovereign states into the hands of terrorist organizations has become a real strategic threat not only for the State of Israel and the Jewish people but also for moderate Arab states, the United States and the West in general. This danger grows stronger not only because of the determination of terror organizations like Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas but also against a background of the anti-Semitism projected by the Muslim Brothers and their ilk, and the fear that such elements are working to transform the Arab-Israeli conflict from a national conflict to a religious one. These threats pose an extreme urgency to the state of Israel and the Jewish people to prepare the next generation of leadership, a responsible, moral and inspired leadership that is up to the challenges of the 21st century.

The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute was selected by Israel President Shimon Peres to generate the content for and analyze the findings of the first international conference of his presidency, Facing Tomorrow.

The Facing Tomorrow mega conference in Jerusalem begins on May 13 and continues through the 15th - timed to coincide with the celebration of Israel’s 60th birthday.

The JPPPI has prepared a book of background documents to shape serious and unflinching discussion on a spectrum of issues of vital importance to the Jewish people and the planet as a whole. These issues as well as the main challenges to the Jewish people in the context of rapid changes in the global arena will be taken up during the conference’s advance day (May 13th), when prominent leaders, planners and thinkers of the Jewish people will meet in Israel under the sponsorship of the Institute.

The advance day’s discussions will also push forward work that began last July in Jerusalem at the JPPPI’s Conference on the Future of the Jewish People. All and all, 8 working groups will meet behind closed doors, their deliberations will be based on the background policy papers prepared in advance by the Institute’s team, and their conclusions will be presented by Ambassador Dennis Ross at the President’s conference.

Among the participants of the preliminary day are: Irvin Cotler, Alan Dershowitz, Stuart Eizenstat, Morley Levine, Abe Foxman, David Harris, Malcolm Hoenlein, Martin Indyk, Dan Kertzer, Yehuda Reinhartz, Mort Zuckerman, Jaques Attali, Bernard Henri-Levy, Dominique Moisi, William Sapphire and many others.

The Director General of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, Avinoam Bar-Yosef, emphasizes: “Against the challenges presented before Judaism on the one side, the revolutionary changes in the world resulting from the rise of new super powers like India and China, the threat of radical Islam, and Iran; and on the other side: the erosion of Jewish demography, the high cost of Jewish life and affiliation, the inter-generational crisis, and worries about the quality of government in Israel, the Jewish people stands stronger than it has ever been. With hard power generated by the inception and continued development of the State of Israel; its strong army, its successful economy, its achievements in science and technology together with soft power that has resulted from the many cultural, political, and economic contributions of both Israel and the Diaspora.”

The Director-General of the Institute adds that the decision of Israel President Peres to entrust the Institute to prepare the program for the conference is both a high honor and a daunting responsibility. According to Bar-Yosef, the success of the conference would not have been possible without the inspiration and support of President Shimon Peres and Ambassador Ross, the professional rigor and quality assurance of the founding president of the Institute, Professor Yehezkel Dror; the formidable guiding contribution of Ambassador Avi Gil, a senior member of the Institute who was charged with shaping the conference’s content and formulating its conceptual underpinnings, and the determination, will and burden-capable shoulders of the chairman of the conference steering committee, former Secretary of the Israeli Government, Israel Maimon.

The JPPPI’s preparatory background policy documents also includes papers on the Annapolis process, Israel-Diaspora relations, Jerusalem as the core of the Jewish civilization, the challenges of education in Israel and the Diaspora, the issues of demography, identity and identification, Tikkun Olam, current issues in medicine, science, technology and economics and more.

Authors at the Facing Tomorrow conference include: Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat (former US Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury), Professor Yehezkel Dror, Ambassador Avi Gil, Professor Emmanuel Sivan, Professor Sergio Della Pergola, Professor Chaim Waxman, Professor Helmona Sorek, Dr. Shalom Wald, Dr. Yehudah Mirsky, Dr. Einat Wilf, Dr. Shulamit Levi, Dr. Hagit HaCohen-Wolf, David Brodet and Yaakov Naparstek.

Facing Tomorrow will deal with trends and developments that are drawing the Israel, Jewish and global “tomorrow,” and propose some selected initiatives to successfully meet the future’s challenges and opportunities alike.

The President’s Conference Facing Tomorrow is an international conference, the first of the President of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres. The conference will take place between the 13th and 15th of May, 2008 at the International Conference Center, “Binyani HaUma” in Jerusalem, with the participation of past and present global leaders, people of action and thought with vision and commitment, rabbis and entrepreneurs, and key figures in world economics, science, and culture.

The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute was the central organization in planning Facing Tomorrow. The Institute was founded as a professional independent think tank with the aim of contributing to the prosperity of the Jewish people by using tools of deep thinking, analysis and strategic planning on issues of high importance to the Jewish world. At the head of the Institute stands, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ambassador Dennis Ross, the founding President, Professor Yehezkel Dror, and its Director General, Avinoam Bar-Yosef. Senior Fellows of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute include: Ambassador Avi Gil (former Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Professor Sergio Della Pergola (one of the foremost experts on demography in the Jewish world), Dr. Shalom (Solomon) Wald (former head of Biotech for OECD), Professor Chaim Waxman (one of the foremost sociologists of the Jewish world), and Professor Emmanuel Sivan (one of the foremost historians of the Middle East).

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